Kenneth Hahn

The couple moved from Saskatchewan to Los Angeles in 1919, and Hahn's father died just a few months later.

The couple had seven sons—Henry, John, Allan, Louis, George, Gordon, and James Kenneth.

Kenneth Frederick Hahn (August 19, 1920 – October 12, 1997) was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for forty years, from 1952 to 1992.

Hahn was born August 19, 1920, in Los Angeles, the son of Hattie Louise (Wiggins) of Nottawa, Canada, and John Heinrich Hahn.

He went to public schools in Los Angeles, including John Muir Junior High School and Fremont High School, class of 1938.

He graduated from Pepperdine College in 1942.

He received a master's degree in education while he was on the City Council.

He also had a secondary-school teaching credential.

Hahn began his working career as a partner in the Hahn Brothers' Service Station at 6300 South Main Street, at the foot of San Pedro Street in the South Park area.

Before World War II he was a messenger for the County Probation Department and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Hahn entered the Navy as an enlisted man in 1942 and earned a commission after studying at naval schools at Northwestern and Notre Dame universities.

He was a ship's pilot in San Pedro, the youngest pilot in the history of the Port of Los Angeles.

He served with the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the South Pacific as the commanding officer of a supply ship and was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant.

Hahn's first try for public office was as a candidate for the State Assembly in the 66th District in June 1946.

Hahn, a Democrat, won the Republican nomination in the primary election but lost the Democratic nomination, and therefore he could not compete.

Instead the Republicans were able to nominate another candidate at a convention.

Hahn was on the Los Angeles City Council from 1947 to 1952.

After the war, in 1947, he taught American government and history at Pepperdine.

Hahn unseated Charles A. Allen, the incumbent in Los Angeles City Council District 8, in 1947.

He was supported by students at Pepperdine College, which at that time was located in the 8th District: they circulated his nominating petitions and did house-to-house campaigning for him.

At age 26 he was the youngest person elected to the City Council to that time.

Jail, 1947. He urged a delay in the building of a new jail in Lincoln Heights until the council could hear from Assemblyman Vernon Kilpatrick, who declared in a letter that the proposed lockup represented "outmoded thinking concerning jail programs" and suggested that the money be spent for more "sunshine and fresh air" prison camps.

His motion failed on a 6–6 vote.

He was reelected in 1949 and 1951.

In that era, the 8th District was bounded on the north by Vernon Avenue, on the west by Western Avenue, on the east by the city limits or Alameda Street and on the south by about Slauson Avenue.

Smog, 1949. The council adopted Hahn's resolution asking Air Pollution Control Director Gordon P. Larson to appear before it to report on the worsening smog situation in Los Angeles.

"The entire smog program seems to have bogged down," he said.

"Yesterday it was almost impossible to breathe in my office, and I am informed that some places had to shut down completely."

Feud, 1950. He and Councilman Harold Harby engaged in what was called a "feud" over various subjects, including their differences concerning the subject of continuing wartime rent control in Los Angeles, with Hahn favoring and Harby opposing.

Harby also called a suggestion by Hahn for a pay raise for city employees "political prostitution in its lowest form."

Harby used the same term, calling Hahn a "political prostitute" in a raucous debate over the fate of a $110-million-dollar public housing proposal for the city (Hahn in favor and Harby opposed).

At one point, Harby "reached over" and shoved Hahn back into his seat.

Birds, 1951. Hahn proposed a special police patrol to protect birds nesting on the City Hall grounds.

The idea was referred to a committee.

Hahn left the council on December 1, 1952, when he became a county supervisor.

Un-American, 1952. Hahn and Council Members Harold A. Henry, Earle D. Baker and J. Win Austin attended a dinner meeting in South Gate to honor the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Hahn was elected to the County Board of Supervisors for the first time in 1952.

He was an ardent supporter of civil rights throughout the 1960s, and met Martin Luther King Jr. in 1961.

He was elected to his tenth term in 1988 with 84% of the vote.

He was known for his promotion of social causes, bringing the Los Angeles Dodgers to Los Angeles and putting emergency call boxes along freeways.